The past 48 hours have been a mad dash of
information. The funny part of all
this being that it won’t become official until July 11th, leaving
open the possibility of some Carlos Boozer-esque situations. Now I don’t have any insight on that
but I like Kevin Garnett said, “anything is possible.”

Toronto made moves to acquire a rising point
guard in Kyle Lowry for a 1st round (protected) draft pick and Gary
Forbes. I’ll leave all the small
forward jokes to twitter as Houston is loaded but let’s see what the group has
to say on this deal.

Toronto

Grade: A+

The beauty of Kyle Lowry’s game is that he
does whatever is needed. He won’t
wow you when you look at season stats because he is a little bit above average,
but when you watch him night in and out, you see the leader that he is going to
be. He leads by example in every
aspect and therefore makes his teammates better. Toronto got him for cheap and now have Jose Calderon
expandable, although they did waive Bayless. Toronto got the better of this deal and a player who can
lead this young talented squad north of the border. – Jacob Noble

Grade: D

Toronto had just made amess of that franchise at this point. With
the addition of Kyle Lowry, it appears they are still not going in a direction.
In the process they lose a young talent and an unprotected first round pick
that promises to be in the lottery. I like Lowry, but he's not worth a future
lottery pick for a franchise going no where fast. – Ray Harris

Grade: A

Toronto did a great thing in acquiring Lowry.
The interesting thing here is the pick for both sides. The protections of the
pick guarantee that unless Toronto is a playoff team, they could be giving up a
quality player. Or, not. It's always hard to say well in advance. Toronto got a
sure thing as opposed to not. – Nate Hughart

Grade: A

Explanation: This will push Toronto in the
right direction and it makes me ask what the hell Houston was thinking letting
Lowry go. This is the most experimental deal so far. Don't see it blowing up for
Toronto at all though. Lowry is an excellent up-and-coming player with a big
upside. – Payton Wales

Grade: A

Toronto shipped a 6 point forward to
a forward heavy team in Houston for a 14 point starting PG who is on
the brink of a breakout year? I am a huge fan of Jose Calderon, so part of me
wanted to grade the deal a B. Kyle Lowry is flat out better right now and
younger so an A is well deserved. Toronto will lineup Lowry next
to Terrence Ross, Demar DeRozan and Andrea Bargnani, THATS offense for you.
They gave up a first round pick, which could hurt if Bargnani goes down again,
but I believe the rewards that particular lineup can provide far
outweigh the risk factor. – Jerome Watson

Houston

Grade: C

With most of the world, I am at a loss about
this deal. I feel as though
Houston could have done better with dealing Lowry but maybe the market wasn’t
there. If that was the case, why
trade him at all? Keep him on for
one more year, or at least trade him before the deadline. Either way this puts Houston looking
for a point guard and being big sellers of talent for draft picks or young
players. They are clearing space
and loading a young team, we will see what they make of it. – Jacob Noble

Grade: B

Explanation) Houston will get an A if they land Jeremy Lin. Houston clearly
felt they had to upgrade at the point guard position this off season. Lowry
doesn't fit into their style of play but because of his athleticism and
decision-making, he was a pretty decent asset for them. If they sign Lin, they will
have upgraded at PG, an gotten a future lottery pick in the process. That would
make it an A for me. – Ray Harris

Grade: B

Houston, we have a potential problem. Is the
potential draft pick better than Lowry? Is Lowry better than the potential
draft pick? Are there not better trades out there? Or, is it simply a matter of
not having an interest in other "NBA" players if you are Houston?
Houston has been very active this Free Agency, and this just has been another
part of that. I don't know how this trade works for Houston, but I don't love
it. A potential top 10 pick though? I can see why the Rockets do that. The NBA
is still an asset league. – Nate
Hughart

Grade: WTF F

Explanation: Not sure what they are doing.
Going after Jeremy Lin will not bring back Yao Ming. But who knows, Houston GM
Daryl Morey has always surprised me. Maybe he just knows something the rest of
us don't. – Payton Wales

Grade: B

Houston has about 7-8 forwards as of today.
Although it is becoming more of a forward game, Houston may have taken it a bit
too far. Lowry was a cancer for the organization and for Coach McHale, so
sending him off made total sense but they didnt necessarily get equal value, in
my opinion. The first round pick plus the aformentioned forwards gives the Rockets
the best leverage in any trade speculation, so that is beneficial. Only reason
they dont get an A for this move is combination of losing a potential all star
and a current logjam at the 3-4 spots – Jerome Watson